DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16618#0005
VOLUME XXXI.-JULY TO DECEMBER. 1856
THE PALMERSTON CABINET.—185G.
First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
President of the Council
Lord Privy Seal
Home Office ....
Foreign Office
Colonial Office ....
War Secretary
Admiralty .....
Board of Control .
Board of Trade ....
Postmaster-General
Without Office ....
Viscount Palmerston
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Bart.
Right Hon. Matthew Talbot Baines.
Right Hon. Earl Granville.
Right Hon. Earl of Habrowby.
Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart
Right Hon. Earl of Clarendon.
Right Hon. Henry Labouchere.
Right Hon. Lord Panmdre.
Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart
Right Hon. Robert Vernon Smith.
Right Hon. Lord Stanley of Alderley.
Doke of Argyll.
Marquess of Lansdowne.
POLITICAL
PAGE
PUNCH'S "Essence of Parliament" will supply the
best summary we could give of the proceedings in the
two Houses of the Legislature, and our attention may there-
fore be directed to other subjects of public interest touched
upon in the present volume.
The tremendous frauds and terrible death of John Sadleir,
although necessarily but slightly alluded to by Punch, pos-
sessed a painful interest at the time of their occurrence.
Mr. John Sadleir was born in 1814, at Shrone, County Tip-
perary; was admitted a solicitor in Ireland in 1837, and
practised in Dublin ; but retired from practice in 1846. Iu
July, 1847, he was returned to Parliament for the Borough of
Carlow. In December, 1852, he accepted the office of a junior
Lord of the Treasury under the Premiership of Lord Aber-
deen, but lost his seat for Carlow in the election which became
necessary. In the following July he was returned for Sligo.
He ceased to be a Lord of the Treasury in January, 1854. In
1848 he became Chairman of the London and County Joint
Stock Banking Company, and conducted its affairs with great
ability. This office he had resigned a few months since. He
was also Chairman of the Royal Swedish Railway; and the
founder of the Tipperary Joint-Stock Bank, of which his
brother, James Sadleir, M.P. for Tipperary, was the manager
and sole director. He had been engaged in a great variety of
speculations, always operating for very large amounts, and
was a large purchaser of land in the Incumbered Estates
Court. On the morning of Feb. 17th, 1856, the body of
John Sadleir was found cold and stiff on Hampstead Heath,
having been discovered by a labourer in search of a strayed
donkey. By the side of the deceased was a bottle labelled
SUMMARY.
" Poison," a silver cream-ewer, and a case of razors. From
letters left on his hall table, it was evident that he had con-
templated suicide for some days, as he was no longer able to
bear the self-reproach of the ruin he had brought upon
hundreds by his frauds and forgeries. Of the extent of the
frauds perpetrated by Mr. John Sadleir no connected state-
ment has been published. The fraudulent transactions in
respect of the Royal Swedish Railway appear to consist in an
over-issue of shares and obligations to the amount of at least
£150,000. In respect of the Tipperary Bank, the manager,
his brother, had permitted him to overdraw more than
£200,000, and, with other fraudulent mismanagement, the
deficit of the bank exceeded £400,000. The assets were
stated to be £100,000 ; hut they proved to be little more than
£30,000. The misery caused by this infamous confederacy
is unspeakable. Not only were the depositors in the South of
Ireland—chiefly small farmers and tradesmen—defrauded of
their whole savings, but the shareholders were stripped, for
the most part, of every farthing they possessed. The means
taken to entrap the last-named class were most infamous. On
the 1st of February last—one lunar month before the crash—
the Sadleirs had published a balance-sheet and report, in
which the concern was represented as most flourishing. A
dividend, at the rate of 6 per cent., with a bonus of £3 per
cent., was declared, and £3000 was carried to the Reserve
Fund, raising that to £17,000. By means of this infamous
fabrication, a considerable number of persons—most of them
widows, spinsters, and half-pay officers—were induced to
become shareholders, and lost their all. Endless suits were
brought by attorneys, who had purchased debts due by the
THE PALMERSTON CABINET.—185G.
First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
President of the Council
Lord Privy Seal
Home Office ....
Foreign Office
Colonial Office ....
War Secretary
Admiralty .....
Board of Control .
Board of Trade ....
Postmaster-General
Without Office ....
Viscount Palmerston
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Bart.
Right Hon. Matthew Talbot Baines.
Right Hon. Earl Granville.
Right Hon. Earl of Habrowby.
Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart
Right Hon. Earl of Clarendon.
Right Hon. Henry Labouchere.
Right Hon. Lord Panmdre.
Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart
Right Hon. Robert Vernon Smith.
Right Hon. Lord Stanley of Alderley.
Doke of Argyll.
Marquess of Lansdowne.
POLITICAL
PAGE
PUNCH'S "Essence of Parliament" will supply the
best summary we could give of the proceedings in the
two Houses of the Legislature, and our attention may there-
fore be directed to other subjects of public interest touched
upon in the present volume.
The tremendous frauds and terrible death of John Sadleir,
although necessarily but slightly alluded to by Punch, pos-
sessed a painful interest at the time of their occurrence.
Mr. John Sadleir was born in 1814, at Shrone, County Tip-
perary; was admitted a solicitor in Ireland in 1837, and
practised in Dublin ; but retired from practice in 1846. Iu
July, 1847, he was returned to Parliament for the Borough of
Carlow. In December, 1852, he accepted the office of a junior
Lord of the Treasury under the Premiership of Lord Aber-
deen, but lost his seat for Carlow in the election which became
necessary. In the following July he was returned for Sligo.
He ceased to be a Lord of the Treasury in January, 1854. In
1848 he became Chairman of the London and County Joint
Stock Banking Company, and conducted its affairs with great
ability. This office he had resigned a few months since. He
was also Chairman of the Royal Swedish Railway; and the
founder of the Tipperary Joint-Stock Bank, of which his
brother, James Sadleir, M.P. for Tipperary, was the manager
and sole director. He had been engaged in a great variety of
speculations, always operating for very large amounts, and
was a large purchaser of land in the Incumbered Estates
Court. On the morning of Feb. 17th, 1856, the body of
John Sadleir was found cold and stiff on Hampstead Heath,
having been discovered by a labourer in search of a strayed
donkey. By the side of the deceased was a bottle labelled
SUMMARY.
" Poison," a silver cream-ewer, and a case of razors. From
letters left on his hall table, it was evident that he had con-
templated suicide for some days, as he was no longer able to
bear the self-reproach of the ruin he had brought upon
hundreds by his frauds and forgeries. Of the extent of the
frauds perpetrated by Mr. John Sadleir no connected state-
ment has been published. The fraudulent transactions in
respect of the Royal Swedish Railway appear to consist in an
over-issue of shares and obligations to the amount of at least
£150,000. In respect of the Tipperary Bank, the manager,
his brother, had permitted him to overdraw more than
£200,000, and, with other fraudulent mismanagement, the
deficit of the bank exceeded £400,000. The assets were
stated to be £100,000 ; hut they proved to be little more than
£30,000. The misery caused by this infamous confederacy
is unspeakable. Not only were the depositors in the South of
Ireland—chiefly small farmers and tradesmen—defrauded of
their whole savings, but the shareholders were stripped, for
the most part, of every farthing they possessed. The means
taken to entrap the last-named class were most infamous. On
the 1st of February last—one lunar month before the crash—
the Sadleirs had published a balance-sheet and report, in
which the concern was represented as most flourishing. A
dividend, at the rate of 6 per cent., with a bonus of £3 per
cent., was declared, and £3000 was carried to the Reserve
Fund, raising that to £17,000. By means of this infamous
fabrication, a considerable number of persons—most of them
widows, spinsters, and half-pay officers—were induced to
become shareholders, and lost their all. Endless suits were
brought by attorneys, who had purchased debts due by the